Improvement in tool-handles



l 1. c. SEARS.

Tool-Handle.

N. 168,789, Patenfedoct.11, 1875.

NAPETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRPHER, WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT 'OEEIcEc JOHN O. SEARS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN TOOL-HANDLES.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 168,789, dated Octoberl1, 1875 application filed August 17, 1875.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN C. SEARS, a resident of the city and county ofSt. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Tool-Handles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription. reference being hereby had to the anneXed drawing, making apart of this specification, in which- Figure 1 shows the two parts ofthe handle separated, and looking at the inner sides thereof; and Fig.2, a central longitudinal section of the handle. For purpose ofillustration a knife-Sharpener is shown in position.

Like letters refer to like parts.

My aim is to provide means for cheaply manufacturing a tool-handle towhich the tool can be readily and firmly attached.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, A B represent the handle, whichis made in two parts, and which, outwardly, are similar, and as shown.Both parts, also, to lighten the handle, are on their inner sideshollowed out, as shown. The' part A is provided with two bearings, G andD. The former, C, is arranged at the outer end ofthe part A, and thelatter, D, toward the center of said part, and, preferably, nearly aninch and a half from the bearing C. The part B is also furnished with abearing, E, which isv arranged at such a point as to come (when the twoparts A and B are put together, as hereinafter described, to form thehandle) between the two bearings C and D of the part A. To illustratethe mode of inserting a tool in the handle, a knife- Sharpener,consisting of a triangular steel, is shown in position against thebearings. To steady the steel laterally, two of the bearings, C and D,are provided with Vshaped notches, into which the steel is received. Theother bearing, E,vin the part B is flat, saving that it has a notch, e,in it to receive a key, G, hereinafter mentioned. In forming the handle,the two parts C and D are fastened together by a rivet, H, or screw. Ipreferably use but one rivet, as shown; and to prevent the turning ofthe two parts on each other they are, respectively, furnished with theprojections I and J, which are arranged to come opposite and againsteach other, and to engage, and for this purpose the projection I at itsend is made concave, and the projection J convex. K and L represent asimilar set of projections, and

through which the rivet His passed, for then projections, in comingtogether, constitute a bearing for the shell of the handle as the rivetis inserted and prevent its collapse. The tool is readily fastened inthe handle by passing its end or tang into the bearings C and D, andagainst the projection K, and then driving a key, G, between the bearingE and the end or tang of the tool. This at once firmly fastens t-he toolin position, and in such a way as to prevent its working loose. Tosteady the key it is passed into the notch e. Providing a metaltool-handle with three bearings, C D E, arranged relatively asdescribed, (and thus securing three bearing-points, of which no two areopposite each other,) enables the tool to be readily and firmly attachedthereto, without any fitting or nishng of the parts, or without the useof a bushing, elastic or otherwise. The handle, therefore, can becheaply made by casting from any suitable meta-1.

I am aware that handles for iiles and screwdrivers have been constructedin two parts, and I therefore do not claim such broadly; but,

Having described my invention, what I claim as new is- 'Iheherein-described tool-handle, consisting of the parts A and B, bearingsC, D, and E, arranged as described, and the projections I, K, J, and L,constructed Vas described, substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

J. C. SEARS.

Witnesses:

CEAS. D. MOODY,

SAML. S. BOYD.

